I unintentionally started an argument on the Internet this week. It began as my way of trying to encourage others to better themselves as poets while supporting a poetry magazine. It’s still rumbling on this morning as somebody decided to come and cape last night for one of those who took my thread and hijacked it to be entitled and snarky, when it was only ever about lifting others.
Being born into a working-class household, and coming from a long line of unremarkable working-class people, those roots cannot be removed. My parents had me in their late teens. Being told to search pockets for change, how my grandparents’ allotment was the only source of fresh veg, and how important it became to save early have helped me to appreciate life as a middle-class poet. That past is never forgotten.
It’s also important to acknowledge how appallingly racist and sexist it remains.
You can find how all this began relatively easily, and it became apparent almost from the get-go that there was the potential for drama. The fact remains, that knowing a particular piece of work was considered by Jo Clement to be good enough for Butcher’s Dog last year altered my perception. That piece was intensely political, pulled no punches and was incredibly anti-Royal Family. I could write political poetry with enough relevance to be noticed.
It also was a revelation insofar as NOT having it published became more significant than that taking place. My perception of what constitutes useful validation has altered enormously in the last twelve months. The Live Canon shortlisting confirmed that I was on the right track: work which was not me writing what I thought people wanted to hear but what needed to be said could be significant.
That means calling out a stupendous amount of entitlement currently at play online.
I’ve seen enough stories about how when online abusers are confronted with their crimes, many don’t comprehend the potential damage that’s been done because there is no physical effect on them. It’s a lone individual ranting at a screen in a moment of anger, or an entitled individual getting upset they didn’t have the good idea that someone else has now adopted.
When racial abuse comes into play, the whole thing becomes so much worse, and for people who will have in all cases spent their lives having to deal with this daily, the damage is incalculable. Nobody can expect to understand how anyone else feels, and as a result, it should never be anybody’s aim online to hurt ANYBODY else. Yet, that’s where we are now. It’s particularly galling when aimed at minorities.
It’s abhorrent when it’s directed at the Trans Community.
If you’re reading this and don’t support the right of everyone who isn’t you to live their lives in peace and without abuse based on their sexuality, ethnicity or physical ability, the exit is ——> I’m always stunned that it’s not a given for everyone else that this is the standard we all should uphold. Why would you find anyone so horrendous that you’d not want to exist beside them?
That’s the other thing about social media right now. A government obsessed with the genocide of a particular group. Another attempting to reclaim the land they assert was always theirs when the Earth is everybody’s to live on in peace. Two major political parties claim they are the true future when neither cares about anything except the power it grants them on the World stage.
Our planet is on fire but the entitled, rich few are more concerned with being popular.
This is the time for authenticity. It’s the moment to stand and call people out for their failures. Most importantly of all, this time will never happen again. Once today is gone that is it. When you go to bed tonight can you honestly attest what you did was fair and worthwhile for someone other than yourself? That’s my benchmark going forward.
How can I help, who needs it most and where do I go to make that most effective?
The future is still yours to dictate. Act now, before it really is too late.